Fruit-drier



3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

FRUIT DRIER.

Patented May 15, 1883.

W. C. CROZIER.

(No Model.)

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. Patented May 15, 1883.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. W. C. GROZIER.

FRUIT DRIER. No. 277,685. Patented 'May l5, 1883.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEFIGE.

W'ILI-JIAM C. CROZIER, 0F KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

FRUIT-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 277,685, dated May 15, 1883. Application filed January 9,1883. (No model.)

To all whom zt may concern Be it known that I, WILLTAM C. GRoZrER, acitizen of the United States,residing at Knoxville, in the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fruit-Driers, ot' which the following is a specication.

My improved drier belongs to that class in which stove or furnace heat is employed, through the medium of suitable conducting chambers and passages, to apply heat to a number of trays of fruit required to be dried; and my invention particularly consists of means by which the heated air may be more evenly dividedto all parts of the fruit, While no portion of the air Once `used will be allowed to come againin contact with the fruit. A perfect draf't and a perfectly regulable quantity of heat are kept up in the apparatus, or different degrees of heat or amounts of draft may be employed in different parts of the drier, according to the kind of fruit or stage ofthe dryingoperation.V

1n order that my invention may be more fully understood, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in whicl1 Figurel is a frontelevation. Fig. 2 isa plan, and Fig.3 is a rear elevation, of my improved drier. Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4 4, Figs. 2 and 5. Fig.5 is a vertical section on the line 5 5, Fig. 3. Fig. Gis a plan View of one of' the perforated plates or regulators.

lis the frechainber,from the back of which inclined iiues22 lead to the rear end of drums 3 3, running from back to frontof the apparatus and connected at their forward ends by pipe-bends 4 4 to drums 5 5, placed over and running from front to back of the apparatus parallel with the drums. The drums 5 are at their back passed through the rear wall, 6, of the drier, where they, through upwardlyinclined pipes 7, discharge the products of combustion into the stack 8. The drums 3 and 5 are situated within hot-air reservoirs 9, one on eachsideof thedrier. yThe bottoms of these reservoirs are open and are adapted to be closed altogether, or to any degree, by means ot' dampers 10 in or near the bottoms thereof. Diaphragms or division-platesl'l 11 extend on either side of the drier from the side wall thereof'towithin a short space,11, of the firechamber. Dampers12 12in these diaphragms, atpoints near the sides of the drier, enable the control of draft, so that air may be allowed a direct draft from the exterior of the apparatus to the reservoirs 9 when the dainpers 10 and l 12 are open, or may be obliged to passin proximity to thetlre-chamber, and thus warmed when the damper 12 is closed. By means of these dampers the temperature and dryness of the air entering reservoirs 9 may be accurately regulated, or the temperature of the air may be different in the two reservoirs'.

A vertical draft and escape pipe, 13, of depth equal to that ofthe drier, as4 shown in Fig. 2, is provided at its base with curved or straight iianges 13', forming a funnel-shaped chamber surrounding the upper portion of and concentric with the {irc-chamber 1.

Arranged between the sides of draft and escape flue 13 and the inner walls of the reservoirs 9 are fruit-trays 14, placed at an angle of twenty degrees (more or less) to the horizontal.

Below thc fruit-trays and parallel therewith are perforated plates 15, which I call regulaters, and the constructionof which is shown clearly in Fig. 6.

Below each of theregulating-plates 15 in the inner wall of the reservoirs 9 is formed a port, 16, through which heated air from reservoirs 9 9 fiows into passages 16, beneath the plates 15, through apertures therein, .and thence through the trays 14 and fruit thereoninto the ports 17, whence it escapes by ports 18 (iliade slightly larger than ports 16) into the central escape-pipc,13. These passages 16 are provided with dampers 16 for regulating the flow ot' heat from the reservoirs 9, which dampers are operated by one and the same, or each by a separate, rod, as may be desired, passing out through the top of the evaporator.` The aper- V tures in plates 15 are graduated from bottom to top, as shown in Fig. 6, the smaller apertures being at the lower ends ofthe plates, so as to perfectly regulate the amount of air applied to all parts of the trays, that each portion ot' fruit therein may receive the same amount of air.

Division-plates 19 at the tops of passages 17 IOO.

lprevent the air which has passed through one tray from afterward entering another, and direct the said air into the central pipe, 13, to the end that air of uniform dryness shall be supplied to all the fruit in the drier.

It will be observed that, by reason of the heated air rising from around the cylinder 1 and passing up through the pipe 13, said pipe acts not only passively in receiving and emitting the moist air from the trays, but creates a draft by means of which the air is exhausted and a circulation constantly maintained in the trays. A damper, 20, at the top of the draft and escape pipe 13 enables the proper government of the draft.

Inordertoprotect the lowermost trays from receiving too great adegree of heat, and to insure the passage of the air in chambers 21 21 into reservoirs 9 9, I employ double oors 22 22, between which fresh air is admitted by openings 23. At their inner ends the chambers between the floors 22 22 open into draftpipe 13. Heatedair which pervades thechambers 2121, being deected by means of the double oors 22 22, passes out through the opened dampers 10 10 into reservoirs 99. The openings 23 23 admitting fresh air between the ioors prevents the heat from radiating through said iioors into the space below the lowermost trays.

A constant circulation being thus maintained in the space between the floors, the parts of the drier immediately above the same do'not become overheated, and derive, as do the other portions of drier, their heat directly from the reservoirs 9 9.

I am aware that radiating-fines and divisionplates are old, and therefore do not claim the same.

l Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

pipe, of the double floors til it shall have passed through the fruit-trays, i

as set forth.

2. The combination of hot-air reservoirs 9, situate one on each side of a fruit-drier, and having ports 16 in the inner walls of said reservoirs, central draft and escape pipe,13,having ports on each side of its walls to permitof the escape of the heated air after its passage through one of the series of trays, regulatingplates 15,and trays 14, extending from the inner wall of the reservoirs to the central draftpipe, for the purpose set forth.

3. In a fruit-drier,the combination,with the heating-chamber 1, situate at its base, the heatreservoirs 9, having at their base dampers 10,

and diaphragms 11, extending from the wallsof the drier nearly-to the fire-chamber and proi vided with dampers 12, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination, with the central draft- 22, situate between the chamber 21 andthe drying-trays, and the openings 23 in the front and rear walls of the evaporator, by meansof which a current of air which escapes into the central draft-pipes is constantly maintained between said floors.

WILLIAM C. CROZIER.

Witnesses:

J. W. CALDWELL,- J. H. KULING. 

